The Sara Cooper Trilogy: Return of the Thief
by That Geek
Summary: Part 2/3. Sara's life hasn't gotten any better, if anything it's gotten worst. What with the fact that boys are stalking her, her mother is trying to pair her with a high ranking officer, and if that wasn't bad enough, the Klaww Gang has returned.
1. Interpol Ball

_Author's Note: Smarty and the Geek proudly present their third Fanfiction and the sequel to The Sara Cooper Trilogy: Cooper Comeback; The Sara Cooper Trilogy: Return of the Thief._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Sly Cooper; if I did then there would be about ten Sly Cooper games out right now._

**Return of the Thief**

**Chapter 1:**

**Interpol Ball**

A car pulled up with all the others to the city ballroom in Paris. It parked right next to a blue van with several radar dishes and such poking out. Out of the car came a family of three: a tall raccoon male, his vixen wife, and their Raccoon/Fox daughter. Out of the van popped a large hippo while a turtle in a wheelchair and his rabbit wife popped out the back. Everyone seemed excited to enter the ballroom all except for the daughter, who was sulking slightly behind her mother. Her father seemed to share the girl's opinion that she shouldn't be there and kept telling his wife so. His wife rolled her eyes and looked sternly at her daughter.

"I don't care if you don't want to be here, Sara. It's good for you to meet people," the vixen told her daughter.

"Come on, I already know everyone here," argued the girl named Sara.

"Well you never know. We just hired some new recruits; you might like one of them," her mother said temptingly.

"All right; more boneheads," she said sarcastically.

"Sara!" her mother growled.

"Mom!" Sara mocked her mother's voice. Her mother seemed to be getting started to yell at her but her father came to the rescue.

"Carmelita, she has the perfect right to voice her own opinions," interjected Sara's father. His wife Carmelita sighed.

"Oh Sly, you're only siding with her because every time she goes to one of these balls with us, you're always afraid she'll meet the one."

"No," Sly said unconvincingly, "it's just that I don't want her to get hurt. She's a very attractive girl, the guys haven't left her alone since she turned 14 and what you made her wear is just going to get them more excited."

"Finally, somebody gets it," Sara sighed huffily. She folded her arms over the parts of her that the low-cut dress didn't cover.

"It was the least revealing thing we could find in her size," she argued

"We could have at least got a shawl," Sara mumbled.

"None of them matched the dress!" Carmelita argued. Sly, Murray, Bentley, and Penelope all started talking very loudly to drown out the argument between the mother and daughter.

"I heard there's some great food here. Apparently, Chief Nelson is friends with one of Paris' greatest chefs!" Murray boomed excitedly, effectively distracting Sara and Carmelita.

"Oh that sounds great," Penelope said sincerely.

"Just as long as nothing in the food affects my allergies," her husband argued. Sly rolled his eyes.

"What _aren't_ you allergic to Bentley?" he asked exasperatedly.

"Well…"

"It was a rhetorical question," Sly said, cutting him off.

"Huh?" Murray asked.

"He didn't want an answer," she explained.

"Oh."

Everyone stopped talking once they reached the door, even Sara and Carmelita pretended they never had their argument from before.

"Ah, Chief Cooper and…well, Chief Cooper. I see you brought your daughter with you," the Sherriff (the CEO of Interpol) greeted.

"Yes, and she's _thrilled_ to be here," she said, giving Sara a hard glare.

"I marked it on my calendar," Sara said innocently.

"Very nice to meet you again Ms. Cooper." He kissed her hand and allowed her and her parents to go in. He then turned to Bentley, Penelope, and Murray. "Ah, Inspector Green, and this must be the Mrs.," he said to Bentley and Penelope.

"Yes," Bentley answered.

"Very pleased to meet you sir." The Sherriff treated Penelope as well to a kiss on the hand then allowed her and Bentley to enter the ballroom.

"And Constable Murray, please try and leave some food for everyone else. Other than that, have a great time!"

"'The Murray' is ready for one awesome night!" Murray said impressively.

"Well, go get 'em." He allowed Murray to pass through the doors and turned back to greet more guests.

The ballroom was a tall room of marble, full of different Interpol employees, their dates and children. Sara's mother wasted no time in dragging her to a spot where a wolf and fox were talking.

"Sara, I'd like you to meet Constable Rodriguez. He's one of Interpol's greatest officers," Sara's mother said, gesturing to the fox. The fox smiled at Sara and kissed her hand like the Sherriff had.

"I have heard so much about you, Ms. Cooper. I thought that your mother saying you were attractive was a usual mother's bias but I see there was genuine truth in it," he greeted.

"A pleasure," she said with absolutely no pleasure in her voice. More like acid.

"And you remember Inspector Wolfski," Carmelita said to her daughter, indicating the white furred lupine next to Rodriguez.

"Course, how could I forget one of the people who saved my life?" she said much more brightly than when she had been introduced to Rodriguez. Igor Wolfski rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Oh, it was nothing. In truth I really did absolutely nothing, I was just the guy driving the helicopter, didn't even get to send a shock rocket Clockwerk's way." Sara was acting a lot more warmly towards Igor than Rodriguez, something the Constable was quick to notice.

"Ms. Cooper could you honor me with a dance?" he asked, bowing to her.

"Well I…"

"I'm sure she'd _love_ to," her mother cut in. She gave Sara a hard glare again, pushing her slightly towards Rodriguez. He took her hand and led her out to the dance floor, allowing Carmelita to return to Sly who was glaring at Rodriguez.

"Oh, lighten up. She's dancing with someone," she said.

"Yeah and she looks _thrilled_," he said sarcastically. At that moment, Murray returned with a loaded-down plate of food, followed by Bentley and Penelope.

"Hi guys." He took a mango from the plate and swallowed it whole. He looked at Sara and Rodriguez on the dance floor then leaned down to Sly. "Who's the creep Sara's dancing with?" he whispered. Carmelita glared at Murray.

"That 'creep', is a good friend of my family, Roberto Rodriguez," she growled.

"Oh."

As the song ended, Rodriguez kissed Sara's hand and started leading her away but Sara squeezed out of his grip and ran towards one of the ballroom balconies. Carmelita started to follow after Sara but Sly quickly grabbed her by the hand.

"I do declare, what familiar song is this." Distracted for a moment, Carmelita also listened in and smiled back at him.

"The Tango?" she asked playfully.

"Can I have the honor a dance?" her husband asked as though they had just met.

"I would be delighted." She took Sly's hand, her mind taken completely off Sara running away from Rodriguez. Sara glanced at her parents from behind a curtain near the balcony.

"Good ol' Dad," Sara grinned. She looked around, saw Rodriguez scanning the room for her, and quickly hid behind the curtain once more. Sara noticed Murray standing nearby the curtain, finishing a whole watermelon in one bite.

"Psst, Murray," she hissed. Murray looked up from his food and to the silhouette of Sara through the curtain.

"What?" he asked, annoyed that he was being distracted from his meal.

"I need you to stand in front of the split in the curtains so I can watch Mom and Dad dance without being noticed by Rodriguez." Murray nodded and went back to his food while sidling in front of the split in the curtains. Sara looked out from between Murray's legs to the forms of her mother and father dancing the Tango. She had to move around a bit as Murray had started swaying to the music, sometimes blocking her view of her parents. They were absolutely amazing, moving in complete sync with each other to the precise timing of the music. They finished the dance with Sara's father swinging her mother in front of him in one graceful sweep. Unnoticed by Sara, Rodriguez saw her bushy, ash gray faintly ringed tail sticking out from under the curtains. He pushed aside the curtains, grabbing her hand as he did so. Sara jumped at his touch, struggling to break out of his grip only to be pulled towards him so her body pressed against his.

"I was wondering where you had gone Ms. Cooper," Rodriguez said in a pseudo-friendly voice, though it was overly obvious that he was annoyed at her departure.

"I was just trying to get a snack before Murray cleaned them out," she invented quickly. Rodriguez smiled at her, petting her hair out of her face.

"Well, why didn't you say so?" the constable asked in that same pseudo-friendly voice. He led Sara along with him to the buffet.

"Well, uh, thank you Constable," she thanked, flustered.

"Please, Sara, let's drop all the formalities, call me Rob," he insisted. Murray glanced up from his plate to Rodriguez leading Sara away.

"He is such a stalker," Murray said, shaking his head as he returned his attention to his food.

Rodriguez took Sara to the buffet where several of the dancers had congregated after the tenth song, trying to replenish their energy. Right at the end of the buffet was a young and nervous looking fox officer, waiting behind a large bulldog captain. He smiled slightly at seeing Sara and Rodriguez approaching.

"Ah, hello Constable," he stuttered.

"Hello, Parker. Have you ever met Ms. Sara Cooper, the daughter of the two Chief Coopers?" he asked, gesturing to Sara.

"No I have not, my loss it seems." He kissed Sara's hand like so many others had that night. Unlike the other times, she blushed slightly. Rodriguez noticed this and cleared his throat.

"Sara, would you leave us for a bit? I have to discuss something with Parker and I don't want to bore you with all this Interpol nonsense. Why don't you go and talk to someone you know?" he said smoothly.

"Okay, _Rob_," she snarled. She wasn't fooled; Rodriguez just didn't want her fraternizing with the much younger, and more attractive, officer. As soon as Sara had left, Rodriguez turned to Parker with a look of rage in his eyes.

"Look here, Parker. I've spent two years butt-kissing Chief Cooper so I could get closer to her daughter and I'm not going to let you just come along with your little puppy-eyes and take her away from me, is that understood?" Parker nodded quickly, not wanting to anger Rodriguez, he knew what happened when you angered Rodriguez. "Good, now if you excuse me. I'm going to get _my_ dear Sara a little something from here."

Sara meanwhile had made her way to where Penelope was trying to dance with Bentley; this being difficult both because of the fact that she was so much taller than Bentley, and also the fact that the wheelchair made it harder to maneuver. Her father was nearby the two, alone because her mother was talking with some of her friends. Sara moved right next to him, thankfully getting a protective arm around her waist.

"Hi Dad."

"Hey, where'd Rodriguez go?" he asked, showing polite confusion while on the inside he was saying _"Ha, she escaped. That'll teach him to mess with my little girl."_

"Oh, he's getting me something from the food bar." Sly smiled externally but on the inside said: _"Damn it."_

"That is if there's anything left," he chuckled to distract Sara from his obvious disappointment that Rodriguez was not leaving her be. He looked over at Murray, who had already finished his first plate of food and was starting on his second.

"Yeah," she giggled.

"So, do you _like_ Rodriguez?" he asked.

"Uh, kind of. He can be really nice but…"

"Yes?" he asked hopefully.

"Oh look, he got something. I'd better be going," she said quickly. She ran off from her father to Rodriguez, who then put an arm around her waist, leading her to a table. Sly couldn't help but mutter to himself.

"Get your hands off my daughter you little…" His voice drowned down into grumbling after that.

After several more dances, Rodriguez kissed Sara's hand and excused himself, saying he had a private matter to attend to. Sara sat down on a bench, relieved; she had thought she would have to fight to get away from Rodriguez. Nearby the bench was the nervous young officer from earlier, Parker. He gave a sheepish smile in return to Sara's; she patted the bench next to her, saying it was okay to sit down. He reluctantly sat down, quite a bit down the bench from Sara.

"Hey, I don't think we were really ever properly introduced. I'm Sara Cooper." She held out her hand, which Parker took and shook.

"I'm Officer Parker."

"Come on, why don't we 'drop all formalities'," she mimicked Rodriguez's haughty voice. "Tell me your first name."

"Oh, do you really want to know?" Parker asked timidly. He seemed nervous to talk to her, let alone get to know her.

"What are you so nervous about?" she asked incredulously.

"Oh, well you're Rodriguez's date and he's my boss. He wouldn't like it if we talked." Sara's face formed an annoyed pout.

"In case you didn't know, he's not here right now. Come on, I haven't seen you dance tonight," she invited him playfully.

"Oh, you want to dance? I couldn't possibly do that, I mean if Rodriguez comes back…" He scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"Please?" she asked pitifully, giving him the puppy dog eyes.

"Oh, well I guess I could." He seemed reluctant but did stand up and take her hand as they walked onto the dance floor.

Back with Sara's parents, they were staring at her with Parker, who in their minds was a complete stranger.

"Where's Rodriguez?" Carmelita asked, annoyed that her matchmaking attempts had been foiled.

"Don't know," Sly said innocently to distract his wife from that fact that he was internally jumping for joy.

"Who's Sara dancing with?" his wife asked, not liking the idea that she didn't know who her daughter was so interested in.

"I don't know that either. But whoever that guy is, he's got to be better than Rodriguez." Carmelita glared at Sly, annoyed by his disliking of Rodriguez and insistence that ever since he first met Sara he had been stalking her.

"She also seems to be very happy dancing with him," Bentley said, coming to Sly's rescue.

"Yeah, I think Sara's finally found someone she likes," Penelope smiled happily.

"So, who is that guy?" Murray asked with his mouth half full.

"I do not know, but I'm gonna find out," she vowed. Sara finished dancing with the unknown young fox and walked back to her parents, her cheeks a little red.

"So, who was that guy?" Sly asked before Carmelita could even open her mouth, earning himself a glare.

"That was Officer Parker," she panted, her cheeks red with both the heat of her recent exercise and happiness.

"From Rodriguez's department?" she asked.

"Yeah," Sara answered. Carmelita was now internally cursing. Parker was one of the new guys and though that meant he was a police officer, there was no getting around the fact that he was (for lack of a better term) a weenie. Rodriguez scared the pants off of him, she scared the pants off of him, _everybody_ scared the pants off of him. She didn't want her little girl going after someone like that; she wanted somebody strong who could take care of her, not vice-versa.

"So what happened to Rodriguez?" Carmelita asked her daughter, feigning calmness.

"He says he had a private matter to attend to," she snorted.

"Oh, too bad." Sly tried to hide the happiness in his voice with no success. Carmelita glared at him again.

Several hours later, the Sherriff stood up on the podium after a few more dances and shouted to all the guests.

"Well, I hope you all had a wonderful evening. Gentlemen, say goodbye to any ladies you danced with that weren't with you when you came in." Sara looked around, thankfully Rodriguez hadn't returned but Parker did sidle up to her.

"I never did get that name," she said teasingly.

"It's Tim," he said shyly.

"Well, it's been nice dancing with you Tim." She kissed him on the cheek in thanks, earning a surprised/horrified look from him. "That's for helping me get away from Rodriguez," she explained. She walked away with her tail swishing happily, towards her parents and the rest of the people that came with them. Parker rubbed the cheek she had kissed fondly and whispered after Sara, though of course she couldn't hear him.

"Well, uh…goodbye…Sara."

_Author's Note: Woo, here's the beginning of Return of the Thief, now review if you liked or Rodriguez will stalk you. Geek out._


	2. Family

**Chapter 2:**

**Family**

Sara got up from her bed, pushing the loose locks of blue hair out of her face. She groaned, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she stood up. After putting on a T-shirt and jeans, she walked down the stairs to where her parents were sitting, eating breakfast. Her mother looked up from the paper and smiled.

"Sara, there's a letter for you." Sara took the letter she was holding and looked at the return address; it was from her grandmother in Spain. She opened it up and read it through.

"She wants me to visit her in Madrid. Apparently she wants to have a week with me and my cousins." She groaned, her mother's sister's children were the biggest bunch of boneheads you could ever meet. Well, Fernando wasn't but he was in College so that just left his bonehead half-siblings.

"Hey, Carmen has told me that they are much better now," her mother retorted. Sara rolled her eyes; her Aunt Carmen believed her children were the smartest, handsomest/prettiest, and kindest bunch of children that ever 'graced' this earth. Her Uncle Antonio knew better but he was off doing a case; her uncle was a lawyer. She was going to argue when her father spoke up.

"We actually sent your grandma a letter asking if she would take you for a week. Your mother and I have to go to a convention in New York," he informed.

"Why couldn't I come?" she moaned.

"You'd have to stay in the hotel room; we won't have you wandering around New York by yourself," she said sternly.

"I could stay with Bentley, Penelope, and Murray," she offered.

"Bentley and Murray have work, and Penelope's already got to look after the twins; we don't need to add you to that mix," her mother replied. Sara sighed but had to admit that having free reign along the large amount of property her grandmother owned was much more appealing than sitting in a hotel room, alone except for when her parents came back.

"Alright, I'll go to Madrid to live with Grandma for the week," she muttered grumpily. Carmelita kissed Sara on the forehead.

"Thanks, your grandmother will be so happy to have you."

No matter how much it pleased her parents or grandmother, Sara was not at all happy to stay with her cousins for a whole week in Madrid. Worse yet, her parents couldn't take her to the airport and neither could Bentley, Penelope, or Murray, so they enlisted the help of none other than Roberto Rodriguez. Being stuck with Rodriguez in a car for an hour was a less than pleasant experience; at least she'd be going on the plane alone. Rodriguez glanced over at her with her head pressed against the window, watching the other cars pass by. He cleared his throat and spoke.

"So, what happened after I had to leave?" he asked with in a falsely casual tone.

"I just sat around doing nothing for the rest of the dance," she lied. However, Rodriguez seemed to have guessed she was lying.

"Did Parker try anything?" he snarled.

"No. And what do you mean, try anything?" she growled.

"I didn't want him to take advantage of you," he said coolly and (Sara could tell) untruthfully.

"He wouldn't take advantage of me; he's too nice for that," she said huffily.

"How would you know?" Rodriguez growled.

"Well, I talked with him a little," she admitted.

"Just talked?" he challenged. He glared at her.

"Yeah." She glared back at him, then turned away and didn't speak again for the rest of the trip. Rodriguez took a couple of glances at Sara, the shirt and jeans she was wearing perfectly exposed all the different curves of her body. He smiled to himself, someday she would be his; she may not like him now but soon, he will finally break through her defenses. Rodriguez focused back on the road; before he could get Sara to love him, he had to at least gain her trust and confidence. But first they had to get to the airport, she hadn't seen the last of him this week, he had a plan…

Several hours later, after going through security, finding sanctuary from Rodriguez on the plane, and going through customs to meet her family members, she was riding in the car with her aunt and two of her cousins. The two boys were sitting on either side of Sara, both giving her evil glares to foreshadow the suffering she would endure for the next week. She had five cousins, her two older cousins, one of whom was at their grandmother's house while the other was in college and Diego and the twins who were younger than her and were the ones sitting on either side of her right now. The eldest was Fernando who was five years older than Sara and in college, then there was Marina; she was two years older than Sara, a really nasty person. Next, Marina's younger brother, Diego was the same age as Sara (only a month younger), a little nicer than his sister. Then there were the twins, Juan and Carlos, the only time they ever voluntarily worked together was when they were doing what they were best at: making Sara's life a living hell. Sara glared at the two boys, daring them to try anything with their mother in the car.

The car pulled up to a tall house in the Spanish countryside. At the door to the house was a gray haired female fox, backed by a teenage girl with brown hair and a boy with similar colored hair. Sara walked up behind her aunt and the twins, holding a suitcase full of clothes and things such as that. The gray haired vixen embraced Sara tightly, cooing in a motherly way.

"Oh, look at you! You're growing up, you've become so pretty. You look just like your mother did when she was your age."

"Grandma, please." She looked at her aunt and cousins in a pleading sort of way. Her aunt, Carmen took Sara's grandmother off of her.

"Now, Mama; let Sara get settled in before you start smothering her." Sara's grandmother released her and let her enter the house.

"So, where do I sleep?" she asked once she had set her suitcases down. Marina, the brown haired vixen, was the one who answered.

"We're sharing the room on the second floor," she said in fake thrill

"Goodie." She matched her cousin's sarcastic thrill.

"Girls…" she said in a warning tone.

"Mom…" Marina mocked her mother's tone.

"Hey, don't you get smart with me!" she snarled.

"I'll get as smart as I want!" Marina shot back. Sara wisely took cover by making her way up to the second floor bedroom, followed by everyone except the two fighting vixens.

Up in her bedroom that she was sharing with Marina, Sara shoved her suitcase under the bed. Her grandmother turned Sara around and pushed her so she sat on the bed.

"So tell me, have any boys been catching your interest?" she asked as she had done every time she first saw Sara since she was twelve.

"Do I have to say?" Sara moaned. The twins leapt to attack the weak spot in her defenses.

"Yeah Sara, tell us," Carlos said with false innocence.

"Please?" Juan snickered.

"Come on; don't tell me no one's caught your eye. Your mother told me that you have a bit of an interest in Constable Rodriguez," her grandmother said sweetly. Sara folded her arms.

"Okay, to set this straight I _despise_ Roberto Rodriguez," she snarled.

"Wow, you have become more of an idiot than before." Everyone in the room turned to see Marina, checking her face in a little hand mirror.

"What do you mean?" she snarled.

"Um, you saying you _hate_ Roberto Rodriguez. He's adorable, rich, gentlemanly…"

"You want him, you can have him," she snorted, cutting her cousin off.

"I don't think so. I know Rodriguez, I'm friends with his brother and he tells me that Rodriguez is _obsessed_ with you. He wants you and he won't take any other girl," he warned.

"His loss 'cause I'll never take him," Sara snorted. Marina seemed to swell in anger but her mother's voice made everyone turn to the entrance to the door.

"Someone better help me with this dinner!" she called.

"Oh, sorry dear. Marina, why don't you help as well?" Sara's grandmother offered.

"Yes Grandma," Marina chanted. Marina gave Sara one final glare and went down the stairs, followed by her grandmother. "I'll deal with you later," she snarled.

"I'll be looking forward to it," Sara replied coolly.

_Author's Note: Sara is so bad $$ (worst censor ever). But just so you know, this has nothing to do with my life, I love all my cousins and none of them are turd-heads like Marina or the twins. Speaking of twins, Bentley and Penelope's children to not really appear in this story, though they play a huge part in the next story. _


	3. Dangers of the Night

_Author's Note: Special thanks to SSweet2014 for reviewing this story. I am well aware that most everyone thinks that Penelope is a mouse, but personally I think that she looks like a rabbit. Her ears are too skinny to be a mouse's and her tail isn't showing, much more manageable when you have a short rabbit tail than the long tail of a mouse. Anyway, you say what you think she is and I'll say what I think she is. Please follow Ms. Sweet's example and review this story; Geek out._

**Chapter 3:**

**Dangers of the Night**

The next morning greeted Sara with a bright yellow glow through the curtains of her room. She looked over at the table with the mirror on it and saw Marina already up and getting ready for the day. Marina turned to Sara, a smug look on her face.

"What?" Sara asked suspiciously

"I heard Mom talking to someone on the phone so I picked up the phone up here. It was your boyfriend," she snickered.

"I don't have a boyfriend," Sara argued.

"Oh, then who's Officer Parker?" Marina said smugly.

"He works for Rodriguez," Sara snorted.

"He didn't seem to be calling on work terms. He said he wanted to talk to you," Marina said slyly.

"He was probably just making sure I'm safe on Rodriguez's orders. He doesn't want to hear I've found someone else while I'm here. Parker's already on his hit list," Sara sighed.

"What did he do?" Marina asked with an evil smile.

"He kissed my hand at the ball where I first met him and Rodriguez," Sara said.

"Oh, he sounds like a real charmer," she smirked.

"Yeah." She forgot whom she was talking to and let that one little bit slip.

"So he _is _your boyfriend," Marina said, grinning evilly.

"What, no! He's just a friend," Sara argued.

"Alright, I believe you," Marina smirked. Sara stormed out of the room to get away from Marina's teasing.

Back down at the kitchen, Sara's aunt and grandmother were preparing eggs and bacon for breakfast. Diego was already at the table eating an omelet with his bacon. Sara's grandmother looked up and down the outfit Sara was wearing.

"Sara, you look like a perfect little Señorita." She felt the edge of Sara's skirt then indicated her to turn around so she got a complete 360o view of Sara's skirt and blouse. Her grandmother clasped her hands in front of her mouth in an adoring fashion. She stroked Sara's ponytail, setting it straight behind her neck. "Would you like something to eat?"

"Of course." Her aunt looked at her watch in an annoyed fashion.

"Diego, where are your brothers and sister?" she asked of her son.

"Marina's getting ready," Sara said.

"_Still_? Carmelita and I weren't that fussy when we were 17. And where are those boys?" she asked, looking around the room.

"I don't know, I know they weren't in Sara and Marina's room because if so Sara would have been up an hour ago. Their door was open so they mustn't be in there. I don't know."

"Oh, don't tell me they went out to explore again," she pleaded. She looked out the window to see both the twins walking along a tall fence. "Oh no; BOYS, GET OFF OF THERE!" The two boys smirked at their mother and continued going along the fence. All four of them that were downstairs at the moment ran outside, looking up at the boys on the fence. They both smirked down at Sara.

"Hey Sara, have we ever told you how _ugly_ that skirt looks on you?" he teased.

"Yeah, red definitely isn't your color," his twin smirked.

"Actually, no matter what she wears, she's gonna look ugly."

"Yeah, what kind of an idiot is Rodriguez for being not just in love, but _obsessed_ with her?"

"That's _it_," she snarled. She leapt on the lower fence then made her way to the one Juan and Carlos were on.

"Hey Sara, watch out while jumping or your big fat butt might start showing," Juan crowed.

"Yeah, you don't want to scar everyone for life." They both turned to each other and laughed. Carlos was the first to stop laughing when he saw Sara practically running along the fence towards them. Both boys yelled in fright but were unable to get away when Sara grabbed them. She then leapt off the fence, getting quite a bit of clearance so that her skirt didn't catch on the posts. Once they were on the ground, Sara set the boys down; surrounded by their mother, brother, grandmother, and cousin.

"Please, we didn't mean it!" Carlos pleaded.

"We're sorry!"

"You two are in big trouble! Neither of you are going to be allowed to the festivities tonight," their mother snapped angrily. However, Sara's grandmother gave her a patronizing look.

"Now, that's hardly fair. Boys will be boys; you should know that better than anyone," she soothed. Carmen sighed.

"Mama, you have _one_ son, I have _four_," she said calmly. "So I think that I would know quite a bit more about raising boys than you.

"I practically raised my brother, and I've seen all those boys that you and Carmelita were with," she said. Carmen sighed in defeat.

"Alright, you boys can come. Be thankful your grandmother was here to persuade me."

"Thank you Grandma," they chorused. The elderly vixen kneeled down next to the boys, kissed each one on the head and embraced them both tightly. Sara and Diego both rolled their eyes, _"Grandmothers."_

"What are the festivities you guys were talking about?" she asked.

"Oh, it's a little town thing. Just the people in this area come. We thought you knew since you dressed so nicely today."

"This was just sort of in the spirit. You know something traditional for my stay in Spain." She patted the edge of her skirt.

"You know, on closer inspection, this looks familiar." She looked closely at the skirt and blouse.

"It was Mom's."

"Wow, you two really are alike. I swear when you came down I thought I was having a déjà vu moment you looked so familiar in that outfit."

"Thanks." Her aunt looked up the stairs in an annoyed fashion, tapping her foot.

"Now when _is_ that daughter of mine coming down? MARINA, GET DOWN HERE RIGHT _NOW_! BREAKFAST IS READY!" she bellowed.

"WELL I'M NOT!" Marina bellowed back. Sara's aunt sighed.

"I don't know why I try anymore. She takes forever to get ready; I don't even know what she's doing. Sara, you go check on her."

"Okay."

Sara opened the door to the room she shared with her lone female cousin. She looked around for Marina but didn't see anything until she looked at her bed and saw a bushy red tail sticking out from behind it.

"What are you doing over there?" Marina looked up with a smug look on her face and brandished a book in Sara's face, it was Sara's diary. "Give that back!" she yelled angrily.

"I wanted to see if you'd written anything about Parker and apparently you have," she crowed.

"Give me that back or I will hurt you!" Sara snarled.

"_Dear Diary,_" she began to read, "_Mom is so persistent that I should be with Constable Rodriguez but I don't like him at all. I had to dance with him last night at the ball and pretend to be as brainlessly obsessed with him as all those stupid girls. The entire night was a waste of time except for one part where I met a new officer called Tim Parker. I actually danced with him once Rodriguez left for the night, it was so romantic. When we left for the night I kind of lost control and kissed him on the cheek. Luckily, Mom and Dad didn't see it because if Mom had seen it she would have been all over me with anger and Dad would have killed him._" Marina smirked at Sara.

"Give me my diary!" She latched onto Marina's neck and pulled her down to the floor.

"MOM, GET SARA OFF OF ME!" she bellowed downstairs.

"I SAID GIVE ME MY DIARY!" Sara screamed.

"MARINA, GIVE SARA HER DIARY!" Marina's mother yelled at her. Marina growled in her throat and handed the little journal back to her cousin. Sara clutched the small book to her and walked back downstairs.

The family of foxes made their way to the center of the small town where everyone seemed to be congregated around a bonfire. A couple of teenage boys wolf whistled when Sara and Marina passed, earning a glare of disgust from Sara and a suggestive wink and smile from Marina. Sara glared at her cousin in disgust and sped forward to walk beside Diego.

"Please tell me you're going to be open for a dance partner," she begged.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because I don't need all these idiots coming after me," she groaned, pointing a thumb back at the crowd of boys.

"Sorry but you have to admit, some of these local girls are pretty attractive." He looked around Sara at a fox girl in a dress. She giggled and half covered her face with a fan, fluttering it and her eyelashes in an attractive way. Sara pulled further forward to her aunt and grandmother in the front of the group.

"Need any help serving the food?" she asked. Unfortunately, her grandmother had her own ideas.

"What? A pretty girl like you sitting behind the buffet, serving food; you should be dancing and flirting with the boys like Marina over there." She saw Marina half hiding her face behind a fan from the two boys that wolf whistled at her and Sara.

"Please Grandma?" she begged.

"None of the boys here interest you? They seem to be plenty interested in you." This was sadly true. Several boys were starting to congregate close to Sara; a few of them had bouquets of local flowers unsuccessfully hidden behind their backs. There was only one thing the same between all the boys: they all had hungry looks on their faces as they scanned her up and down. Sara turned away quickly and stared face to face with the one person that could possibly make this situation worse.

"Constable!" She quickly got out her own fan to hide her face from Rodriguez.

"Sara, I thought I already told you to call me Rob," he said patronizingly. "I was wondering if you would dance with me tonight."

"Well, I was going to help serve the food…"

"Now, what is this?" her grandmother interrupted. "I already told you that a pretty girl like you should be dancing and flirting with the boys. Now here's a finer gentleman than I had ever seen, now you should go and dance with him." Her grandmother pushed Sara slightly forward into Rodriguez's arms. Rodriguez took Sara onto the designated dancing area and placed his hand on her waist in preparation for the dance. Once they started dancing, Sara stared up at Rodriguez, her eyebrows slightly raised.

"What?" he asked.

"Could you move your hand further up my back, you're touching the base of my tail."

"It's part of the dance," he explained.

"Oh, well could you at least tell me what you're doing here?" she asked, badly disguising the dislike in her voice.

"I got the weekend off, so I decided to visit my family who also live in this town. Also, your mother requested that I keep an eye on you; apparently you have a history of getting into trouble."

"It's not my fault Mom and Dad made so many enemies in the past. Of course some are going to want to kill me," she groaned.

"I remember hearing about the entire business with Jean Bison."

"Please, I barely remember that guy compared to what happened afterwards."

"Could you tell me?" Sara couldn't help but shudder as she remembered Mz. Ruby, the shadow ghosts, and most notably the giant mechanical owl, Clockwerk.

"I have to sit down. I'm feeling faint," she shuddered.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Sara." He led her towards a table and sat her down in a chair. He went down to the food buffet and got her a plate of food, sitting next to her. She thanked him and settled down to eating the food he had gotten her. Rodriguez watched Sara eat for a while then returned most of his attention to his own food, using the rest of his attention to move his tail so that it intertwined with Sara's. Sara quickly slipped her tail out of the knot it had made with Rodriguez's and placed it in her lap. Rodriguez looked at her and pulled something out of his pocket.

"Here, I saw this in a jewelry store in Paris and I thought you'd like it." It was a beautiful silver necklace with an opal pendant. "The opal made me think of you, it's always changing, becoming more beautiful each time you see it, much like you." He placed it around Sara's neck, checking how it looked against her ash grey fur. Sara held the opal in her hand, a look of embarrassment on her face.

"Rob, I couldn't possibly take this," she said in embarrassment.

"It's a gift to you, Sara. A symbol of my affections for you, affections I hope you can someday return." Sara blushed slightly at hearing this and quickly turned away from Rodriguez, holding the pendant in her hand. She looked around and saw Marina walking off into the streets with one of the boys from earlier. Sara rolled her eyes and went back to her food, finishing the last spoonful very slowly to let the taste settle in. She was interrupted from her bliss when Marina's scream penetrated the air from somewhere in the streets.

"Marina?" She got up from the table and ran out of the clearing, Rodriguez quickly got on her tail.

"Sara come back!" Sara quickly lost Rodriguez in the crowd of people that had formed at the exit to the clearing nearest where Marina's scream had been heard. She ran out of the clearing, ignoring all of the cries for her to return. Marina screamed again, louder than before, making Sara run faster until she reached the alley where she had heard the scream. She looked into the alley to see Marina sitting by a trash can, sobbing into her bound hands.

"Marina, what happened?" She ran forward to her cousin and started untying her hands.

"Sara, get out of here! There are snatchers here; they're trying to catch girls to sell them on the slave market," she said in a panicky voice.

"Where are they?" A couple of snickers came from the mouth of the alley. Sara and Marina turned around to see a pair of tall men, one carrying a gun the other carrying a loop of rope.

"Well, what do we have here? Our lovely catch has an equally lovely friend," the man crowed.

"I say we snag this one and see what else we can catch," his partner agreed. He hefted his lasso and started swinging it around his head, preparing to launch it at Sara. Sara quickly finished untying Marina and darted at the two snatchers, swinging her leg out to knock them over.

"Run Marina!" Sara called to her petrified cousin. Marina dashed past the snatchers while they were distracted, heading back for the clearing and everyone there. Sara followed her right up until one of the snatchers knocked her off her feet. She tumbled over, hitting the side of the alley painfully. One of the snatchers came up to her and grabbed her by her wrists, twining some rope around them.

"You're gonna pay for what you just did. What you just did lost us about half a million dollars worth of girl." Sara spat in his face, struggling out of his grip.

"In my family, there are thieves with honor. Stealing people for your own personal pleasure, there is absolutely no honor in that," she snarled.

"As much as this may surprise you, I don't care about honor; I just care about making money. You see, there's people in this world that would be willing to pay a lot of money to have you in their bed." Sara knocked her bound arms against the snatcher's head and ran away from him to the back of the alley. The snatcher with the gun pointed the barrel of the weapon at Sara threateningly.

"Come on. There's no escape, so why not do this in the least painful way possible," he snarled. Both snatchers started approaching Sara, the second had his hands outstretched to grab her. He turned to his cohort.

"Hey, maybe we can have some fun with this one ourselves first," he chuckled.

"No! A fresh girl fetches a much greater price on the market," his partner growled Sara had sliced off the cords binding her hands on some broken glass and started climbing the pipes to the rooftops. The snatcher with the gun followed, taking his cohort's rope with him. Sara ran away across the rooftops, she could easily reach the clearing before he got to her. Unexpectedly, Sara tripped over a chimney and hit the ground hard, the shock of the fall preventing her from getting up quickly enough. The snatcher kneeled on her stomach, binding her in the ropes he had brought.

"No one can help you now. You're going to make me and my partner into rich men." The snatcher lifted her to her feet, pressing the barrel of the gun into the side of her neck. He smirked in the light of victory and licked her cheek, letting his tongue slowly graze her fur. Sara struggled to get away from the snatcher's aggressively exploring hands. Unnoticed by the preoccupied snatcher, three different forms took position around him. The smallest of the three stepped forward and pointed a coiled bull whip at him.

"You know, it ain't polite to do something like that to a lady," the form said in a cockney accent. The form stepped forward, revealing a small tigress in a small shirt and khaki shorts. The snatcher pointed his gun threateningly at the tigress, earning himself the approach of the largest of the forms.

"Back where, or should I say _when_, I come from gentlemen treated ladies with respect, not tying them up and pointing guns at them. And if a gentleman such as myself ever caught someone doing one of those things to a young lady, it'd be our duty to put them back in the right. Catch my drift, eh?" the second form snarled. The snatcher started switching the aim of his gun from the tigress to the now revealed large buffalo. The parrot on the buffalo's shoulder applauded the speech.

"Oh good show, Jean old boy. You gave him a right good old scare," he said in one of those upper class, snobby British accents.

"Why thank you Mr. Arpeggio." The snatcher started backing away with Sara still held against him.

"Now, you people step back. This girl is my catch, we're gonna sell her and make a whole lot of money on the market. Maybe even more at auction," he grinned.

"Well then, I think it's time that we deal with this bum and head off." The final form shot something forward at the snatcher, tangling him up in what looked like webbing. Sara collapsed on the floor along with her captor, her vision blurring as the tigress, buffalo, and strange third form surrounded her. Her head hit the ground and she knew no more.

Rodriguez ran alongside Marina, the latter of whom was leading him to the site of her near capture. They turned into the alley and saw two forms bound tightly in something similar to webbing. Rodriguez walked up to the snatchers and picked up something off the ground by their bound forms. It was a calling card with a symbol that looked like two clawed hands holding an orb, the forearms of the hands spreading out into what looked like wings.

"What is it Constable?" Marina asked in a nervous voice.

"It's something that nobody has seen in 19 years: the calling card of the Klaww Gang."

_Author's Note: Well, there you have it. I'm sorry that I could only do one chapter today, but do not worry, I will most likely get two tomorrow. So please review; Geek out._


	4. The Cooper Gang Returns

_Author's Note: Sorry for not updating, but since I'm in a college level course you can only expect that I'll have quite a bit of homework. Also I have a few stories I'm working on: __Crash Bandicoot: Power of the Crystals__ and __the Trial of the Heroes Saga_._ So anyway, here's the chapter, if you want more you have to review; Geek out._

**Chapter 4:**

**Return of the Cooper Gang**

Sly awoke suddenly as his alarm clock went off. His eyes only half opened, still gummed together by sleep. He looked down and saw Carmelita stirring slightly then opening her eyes to look up at Sly, a smile coming across her face.

"Good morning," she said softly.

"Morning," he managed to yawn out. Sly turned over and hit the alarm clock to turn it off, but the ringing sound did not stop.

"Sly, that's your cell going off," his wife giggled. Sly picked up the vibrating device and turned it on, putting the device to his ear.

"Hello?" he asked. It was Murray.

"Sly, have you seen the newspaper today?" he asked urgently.

"No, I just got up," he said, curious as to what was going on.

"You have to see it" Murray insisted. Sly walked over to the hotel room door, opened it and picked up the newspaper that was left there. He looked at the front page and stopped short, his eyes widening. "I thought it'd be shocking to ya, Sly."

"What is it?" she asked nervously. Sly sat down next to her, allowing them both to read the headline.

_**Klaww Gang Returns?**_

_**Last night at approximately 10:30 PM, Interpol Constable Roberto Rodriguez found two snatchers bound in a strange, web like material in a small villa outside Madrid, Spain. Right next to the snatchers was found a calling card with the symbol of the Klaww Gang. Right before their apparent capture by the Klaww Gang, the two snatchers in question were attempting to kidnap two girls visiting for the festival: Marina Fox, 17; and Sara Cooper, 15. Ms. Fox was found slightly before the supposed appearance of the Klaww Gang fleeing the scene after nearly escaping the snatchers. Anyone's best guess is that Ms. Cooper was not to be as lucky. Both snatchers claimed her to be taken by the Klaww Gang but there is still the issue as to whether or not the Klaww Gang was actually there. "I didn't see anyone who ever matched the description of any Klaww Gang members at the scene," says Ms. Fox, "anyway, aren't they all supposed to be in jail or dead?" This is very true. Three Klaww Gang members are known to be dead, Jean Bison died of asphyxiation some five years ago and Arpeggio and Ms. Neyla are known to have died some thirteen years before that, killed while resisting arrest. However, it is a little known fact that on the same night that several of the previous Fiendish Five members escaped, the Contessa and Rajan also managed to escape. This was not broadcasted to put a slight stopper in the panic level already extremely high at the time. So if you do see anything suspicious, please call your nearest Interpol station. Here are pictures of each of the previous Klaww Gang members.**_

Carmelita covered her mouth in shock, staring over at Sly. Sly had his eyes closed, a look of intense concentration on his face. He opened his eyes and pulled out his cell phone again. He dialed in a number and put the device to his ear.

"Hey, Bentley. This is Sly calling…yes I've seen the paper, that's why I'm calling. Look I want to know how quickly you can get the gang together, the entire gang: me, you, Murray, Penelope, Panda King, the Guru, and Dimitri. Okay, I'll be there, bye." Sly closed the phone with a snap and went to his suitcase to get a few things out. He picked up his thieving outfit and went to the bathroom to change, leaving Carmelita to sit on the bed. Carmelita opened the door quickly and got into the bathroom with Sly, hands on hips and "no nonsense" attitude in place.

"And where exactly do you think you're going?" she asked haughtily.

"Carmelita, the Klaww Gang has Sara; I'm not going to sit around in a conference room while they do whatever they want with our daughter," he growled.

"And you think I will? I'm coming with you, Ringtail; whether you like it or not." She had pulled out her shock pistol and jammed the barrel into Sly's chest. He gave the weapon a wary look.

"You_ sleep_ with that thing on you? I am really starting to get seriously freaked out; I mean where do you put that thing?" Carmelita made the weapon disappear into whatever pocket it wound its way into and went to get her own clothes to get dressed.

_Cabin, unknown location_

Sara awoke to find herself looking at a wooden ceiling, lying in a soft bed. She looked around at the logs that made up the walls of the cabin, then to the door. It was shut and it looked heavy, probably locked too. She threw off the covers and noticed that her arms had been heavily bandaged after they had scraped against the rooftops in that small town. Suddenly, the quiet of the room she was in was disturbed as someone unbolted the door and walked in. It was the tigress, exactly the same as she had been last night except for the sweatshirt she now wore over the small shirt.

"Mornin' mate. You had quite a fall last night, running away from those snatchers." The tigress set down a tray with an egg on toast on it. "Bon Appetite mate. Sorry it ain't much, but Bison hasn't caught anything yet." Sara slowly picked up the egg on toast and took a bite.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Oh, course sorry about leaving you in the dark. My name is Neyla, just Neyla," the tigress said.

"I'm Sara Cooper," she said.

"Nice to meet you," Neyla returned. The two girls shook hands.

"So why am I here?" Sara asked.

"Well we were thinking something like getting you to help us. I'd love to see what dear old Carmelita would think if her daughter joining a criminal organization. That would teach ol' Ironsides to mess with me," she sneered. Sara growled.

"Hey, don't you talk about my mother like that!" she growled.

"Sorry, I just got the impression that you weren't on best terms with your mother, maybe this was a bad idea," Neyla said.

"I may not be on best terms with her but she's still my Mom. And what idea did you have?" Sara growled.

"Well I thought that ol' Ironsides would be cooping up that Cooper instinct of yours. Making you go to parties and trying to play matchmaker all the time," Neyla sighed.

"How did you know?" Sara asked in surprise.

"We've all had mothers, mate. Even Bison over there had a mum, not that he can remember her at all it being such a long time," she laughed

"You try remembering things after being frozen for 120 years." Both girls couldn't help but laugh at Bison's comment. However, Sara stopped short laughing when she saw a strange form enter the room. It looked like a normal person until you looked at her lower torso, she counted eight legs. Sara screamed and pulled the covers higher towards her head, making Neyla fall of the end of the bed.

"That's the Contessa. Don't feel too bad, her appearance takes a while to get used to." The Contessa clawed forward on those eight legs.

"Now you, you look like a strong minded girl. I appreciate strong minded women, they can be a pain when you want them to see something in a way other than their own but I admire them all the same."

"She's a psychologist, that's why she's so obsessed with minds," she explained.

"I see." Sara looked back at her readings of the _Thievius Raccoonus_, she had heard about Neyla and the Contessa in the book. Her father had warned that they were very dangerous, she tried to remember. Neyla was Clock-La; she had been under Clockwerk's control. She was also supposed to be an extremely persuasive person. The Contessa was a corrupt prison warden; she had once held her mother, father, and Murray prisoner. Trying her hypnotic skills on Murray and her mother, it worked on Murray but not on her mother. Her mother was able to stand up to the power of the Clockwerk eyes. Sara then glared at both of the women in her room, throwing off her covers and taking a fighting pose beside the bed.

"You, you two are listed as enemies in the _Thievius Raccoonus_, not to be trusted," she growled.

"Now look, that was who we used to be. Back before we paid for our actions," Neyla argued.

"Yeah right. You've kidnapped me so you can take revenge on my parents," she snarled.

"Now look, sure we don't like your parents, mostly your mother, but we didn't kidnap you," Neyla said.

"We saved you. You were this close to being lost forever; forced to sleep with rich, perverted men," the Contessa finished.

"Well then, why the locked door? If I'm not kidnapped then you'll let me return to my parents," Sara said stubbornly.

"Course you can return to your parents," she said unexpectedly. "That is, if you want to give up the opportunity of a lifetime."

"What opportunity?" she asked, her interest unwillingly piqued.

"You're a Cooper, born with thief blood in you. You want to live up to the standards of your ancestors, to become a master thief. But ol' Ironsides wouldn't want you to do that, she wants you to be a good girl, hopefully a police officer one day. You see, suppressing your thief side, matching you with a high ranking police officer; she wants to turn you into a police officer."

"And it is obvious to everyone that you would rather be a master thief than a police officer. We can help you become a master thief, so you just have to choose," she said.

"Be with your family, forced into a life you do not want or be with us and do what you want to do." Sara battled internally.

"Well…can't I just visit them?" she pleaded.

"Soon as they see you, they're gonna coop you up and hide you away. But, we _are_ gonna have to go to your house before we can do anything," Neyla said.

"Really? Wait a minute, why?" she asked suspiciously.

"As a Cooper, you're gonna need that cane of your dad's," Neyla pointed out.

"You mean, I'm gonna have to steal from my parents?" she asked with her eyes wide.

"Yeah, what you aren't _scared_ are you?" Neyla smirked; she knew perfectly well that Sara was as defensive as her mother.

"No I'm not. I'll take that cane, _my_ cane." Neyla clapped Sara on the back.

"Now that's the attitude I like: more like ya dad than ya mum. Arpeggio, we're heading for Paris!" she shouted to another room.

"Finally. I was wondering if this was a waste of time."

_Author's Note: You know the drill people; Geek out._


	5. Cane Heist

_Author's Note: I'm baaaack. Sorry 'bout that, but you people did not review at least until the wonderful Sookdeo did. Please follow her example and review this story. Anyway, I felt bad about not updating for so long that you guys are getting THREE chapters. And because of that, I know you guys are so grateful that you'll give me all sorts of wonderful reviews right? I SAID __RIGHT__? Geek out. _

**Chapter 5:**

**Cane Heist**

Sly, Carmelita, and the Cooper Gang had all returned to Paris, living in their own residences. Sly and Carmelita were in their house, while everyone else was in the Hideout. Little did the sleeping raccoon/fox couple know that five criminals had their eyes on their house. The five in question were situated on different rooftops around the house, looking down into the window. The two smaller forms were situated closest to the window, the one with the larger tail started crawling alongside the small ledge that led to the window. Sara opened the window slowly and quietly, slipping under the thick glass. She crept over to the dresser, opened the secret compartment under the dresser, and looked into the small hole in the dresser's bottom. There it was, right there within her grasp; she put out one small hand and pulled the cane out of its compartment. She crept back to the window and quickly slipped out of the window. Suddenly, some alarm that Sara hadn't been able to disarm went off, waking her parents immediately. She leapt towards a tree, hooked the bent part of the cane on a thin branch, and swung towards the rooftop that Neyla was situated on. Sara's mother dove straight through the window, setting off more alarms. She pointed her shock pistol at the three Klaww Gang members on the rooftop across the street.

"You are all under arrest!" she yelled. Jean Bison yelled over Carmelita's voice.

"The jig's up partners. Let's get out of here, eh." All three of the Klaww Gang members on the rooftop jumped down into the street and ran away, dodging the shock bolts flying after them. On the hidden rooftop, Neyla shoved Sara down into the street.

"You run for it, I'll keep Ironsides busy," she snickered. Neyla leapt across the road to the rooftop right in front of Carmelita.

"Freeze!" Carmelita screamed. Neyla mockingly put her hands up.

"Been a while since I've seen you. So now you're Mrs. Ironsides I guess." Carmelita's ears flattened against her hair as she recognized the voice and the despised person who owned it.

"Neyla, so it seems that you and your Klaww Gang friends decided to steal from us while we were sleeping? You have no idea how long I've wanted to say this," She clicked the gun until it reached its highest charge, "Neyla, you're under arrest." Carmelita fired a super charged shock bolt at Neyla. Neyla barely dodged the larger bolt and ran into the street, running after the rest of the gang.

_Klaww Gang Hideout_

Sara was extremely unhappy at being woken up by the Contessa, whom she had still not gotten used to, and made to walk into the main room of the hideout with the rest of the gang. She leaned up against the counter, with Neyla and Bison on either side. Neyla was holding a newspaper, opened to the front page to read it aloud to the rest of the gang. She cleared her throat and started to read the article.

_**Klaww Gang Strikes Again**_

_**It has now been confirmed that the Klaww Gang has returned. Already wanted for the kidnapping of fifteen year old Sara Cooper, the Klaww Gang has now dealt another blow to the Cooper family; first taking their daughter and now responsible for the theft of the Cooper Cane, an heirloom of the Cooper family from Egyptian times. Interpol Chief Carmelita Montoya Cooper, the wife of Sly Cooper and mother of Sara Cooper, has already confirmed the identities of the Klaww Gang members: ex-constable Neyla, the Contessa, Jean Bison, and Arpeggio. Many witnesses believe that they saw a mysterious fifth member, looking somewhat like a fox, gender not confirmed, age is agreed to be in the early teens. It is unknown what the intentions of the Klaww Gang are and therefore unknown where they will strike next. Some believe that the next targets of the Klaww Gang are two insubordinate members: Lord Rajan, and Dimitri Lousteau. Mr. Lousteau is known to have been nearby the scene of the robbery, only a few miles away in the outskirts of Paris. Rajan is known to be in his "ancestral palace" in the jungle outside Calcutta, holding parties to impress guests. Despite this, there is no evidence that the Klaww Gang has any intention of bringing these former members back into their ring. It seems that we will just have to wait and watch for the Klaww Gang's next strike.**_

Everyone in the group couldn't help but laugh, Bison in particular looking at Sara through a teary eye.

"Mysterious fifth member, gender unconfirmed," he laughed.

"No one even suspects that you could be that member," she grinned before her expression became serious. "We need to keep it that way."

"What do you mean?" Sara asked nervously.

"We're gonna have to fake a ransom note."

"And this involves…" Sara began.

"We're gonna have to make you look all bloodied up, miserable, an obvious hostage."

"I'll start gutting some fish for blood." Bison walked out the door towards a small cabin next to the hideout.

"Fish blood?" Sara asked nervously.

"I have some spare ropes in my room." She walked into her room.

"She keeps rope in her room? Creep," she shuddered.

"Sorry you're going to be rather uncomfortable but if we don't do this, you could be discovered. We need this element of mystery for some of our jobs." Bison and the Contessa entered from the places they went, ready to begin their work to turn Sara into a miserable prisoner. Neyla pulled out a hard wooden chair for Sara to sit in. Sara sat down in the chair, allowing Neyla and the Contessa to bind her tightly to the chair. They quickly apologized whenever Sara gasped in pain from the ropes digging her into flesh.

"Sorry, we have to make it look real." Next came Bison with a paint brush, brushing fish blood onto Sara's wrists, arms, and face.

"Struggle around a bit, it will look more convincing." Sara struggled against the tight ropes, quickly tiring, tears appearing on her eyes from the pain. Neyla took a picture of Sara's act of being miserable, untying her as soon as they were done.

"Brilliant work, mate. You looked like an actual, honest-to-god, hostage." Sara stood up, rubbing her wrists, and walked to the stream to wash off the fish blood.


	6. Adventure in India

**Chapter 6:**

**Adventure in India**

Carmelita was sitting behind her desk, steaming with fury. The Sherriff had expressly forbid Carmelita from going after the Klaww Gang until there was enough evidence to support where they were. She picked up a picture from her desk; it depicted her with a five year old Sara sitting on her lap, eating an ice cream. Her eyes started watering slightly when her eyes drifted to the newest picture of Sara. Her daughter was bound to a hard wooden chair with thick ropes, blood covering her body. She had obviously been beaten brutally, made clear by the many welts on her face and arms. A knock on her door made Carmelita come out of her maternal worries and tell the person to come in. Rodriguez stepped in, an extremely concerned look on his face.

"Hi Rodriguez," she wiped her eyes, "do you have any intelligence on the Klaww Gang?"

"I do. My sources tell me they're in India, going after Rajan." Carmelita sighed in anger.

"Rodriguez; I want facts, not speculation."

"Believe me; my sources are more than trustworthy," he insisted. Carmelita gave him a look then sighed.

"Alright, book us a flight to Calcutta." Another knock on the door made both look up. "Come in." Wolfski stuck his head through the door.

"Did I hear that you need a flight to India?" he asked with a smile. Carmelita returned his smile gratefully.

"Thank you, Wolfski. Rodriguez, don't bother getting us a flight, Wolfski will fly us." The Sherriff stopped by the door as well.

"Come to think about it, Wolfski you're on the case with Cooper, Rodriguez, and Parker." Rodriguez groaned, causing the Sherriff to give him a stern look. "Yes Rodriguez, Parker's coming too."

_Rajan's "Ancestral Palace" Indian Jungle_

The Klaww Gang stood to the side of the entrance to Rajan's palace, all congregated together.

"Alright, now we're gonna get Rajan back in the Klaww Gang. This is going to be a mission that will require all of us to participate. Me and the Contessa will distract the cops in there while Jean Bison and Arpeggio get Rajan," she said.

"What do I do?" Sara asked which she then regretted because she did not like the look Neyla was now giving her.

"You? You have the most important job. Your job is to distract Rajan while Bison and Arpeggio go after him."

"How?" Sara asked with even more wariness.

"Well, you should know that Rajan is convinced that he's Indian royalty so how could he resist the lure of an Indian Princess," she grinned evilly.

"Oh god," she moaned.

"You might not like it but it's an extremely important job," Neyla said. Sara sighed.

"Alright."

_Later_

Carmelita, Rodriguez, Wolfski, and Parker stood to the side of the dance floor, looking for the Klaww Gang among the different guests. Parker was looking among the guests for Klaww Gang members when he saw a small figure that caught his eye. He followed the form into the crowd until it revealed a teenage girl in traditional Indian clothing. She glanced at him then took a double take, her strangely familiar eyes widening in shock. Parker walked up to her and bowed slightly to kiss her hand. Even through the silk cloth that covered the lower half of her face it was still evident that she blushed.

"Hello." The girl nodded. Why was she so familiar? "What's your name?" She smiled shyly; it was obvious she didn't want to tell him. "Would you like to dance?" She blushed again but nodded, giggling slightly. He brought her onto the dance floor, placing one hand on her bare waist and grabbing her hand with his other.

Rodriguez tapped Carmelita on the arm, indicating Parker's obvious distraction. Carmelita sighed.

"Well, it's distracting everyone else so it helps. And that girl…she looks so…familiar," she said with a faltering voice when she thought about her daughter again.

"Maybe her appearance reminds you of Sara," Rodriguez offered.

"Maybe," she sighed sadly and went back to looking for Klaww Gang members.

Meanwhile, Parker danced happily with his mysterious and silent young partner. She just seemed so familiar, her curly black hair, her ash grey fur, her beautiful dark brown eyes. Those eyes were what drove him the most insane, he had seen those eyes before, such a common color yet so unique in the way they lit up in delight when he danced with her.

"Do I know you?" he inquired to her. She quickly shook her head, her eyes becoming more fearful. "I do know you, we've met before." Her eyes were screaming with pure terror as she shook her head. Parker touched the cloth covering half her face and pulled it back slightly. His face lit up in delighted shock when he finally linked a name to the face.

"Sara!" he said.

"Please Tim, don't tell Mom I'm here." She quickly pulled the cloth back over her face.

"But Sara; she's been so worried about you, Rodriguez has been worried about you and…I've been worried about you too." He pulled Sara's face up to look at him.

"I don't want to go back; I don't need Rodriguez fawning over me," she growled.

"But Sara…what about your parents; your mother just about committed insubordination to look for you." Sara shook her head.

"I just can't, you wouldn't understand." She tore herself out of Parker's arms and walked over to a pillar. Parker practically ran back to Carmelita and Rodriguez.

"Chief Cooper! That girl over there, she's…"

"Parker, shut up and get back to work," Rodriguez snapped. Parker quickly shut his mouth. Carmelita gave Rodriguez a look of scorn then turned to Parker with an apologetic face.

"I'm sorry Parker, but we can't waste any time."

"But this is important," he protested.

"Get to work!" Rodriguez bellowed. Parker ran away from Rodriguez in fright.

Rajan sat in his throne with his face propped up on one hand, watching Sara (though he didn't know who she was) as she ran away from Parker. He turned to his advisor and spoke.

"This girl, who is she?" he inquired.

"I do not know sir. She is not on the guest list." Rajan ignored the ominous sentence.

"She must be the daughter of some powerful Indian noble. I mean look, the finery she wears, her beauty; she can be the daughter of nothing else," he said, more to himself than anyone else.

"If you say so." The advisor gave into the fact that his master was not going to listen. Rajan stood up from his throne and walked towards the girl, towering over her small form. She turned around and looked up at him, blushing slightly under the cloth covering the lower half of her face.

"Oh, hello my lord," she said, making a huge deal of calling him "my lord". Rajan could not believe what he was experiencing, a beautiful young girl of royal descent calling him "my lord".

"Would you like to dance with me?" he asked. Sara pretended to blush.

"Why I would be honored to." She curtseyed elegantly and placed herself in his arms for a dance.

Back with the Interpol officers, Parker couldn't help but glance at Sara dancing with Rajan every couple of minutes.

"What is she doing?" he muttered.

"Pardon," Carmelita asked.

"The girl from earlier, she's dancing with Rajan." Carmelita sighed.

"Focus, Parker."

"But Rajan may be the target for a strike by the Klaww Gang. We can't overlook anything," Parker argued.

"Did you find something suspicious about her?" she asked with a scrutinizing gaze.

"Uhh, kind of," he faltered.

"How?" Despite Parker's previous sincerity about telling Carmelita her daughter was not a hostage, he suddenly became nervous about betraying Sara's trust.

"She seemed extremely intent on dancing with Rajan," he thought up quickly. Rodriguez rolled his eyes and glared at Parker again.

"Parker, sometimes you're even more of an idiot than Wolfski. Of course she'd want to get closer to Rajan; he has money and power and she wants some of that."

"Well, how do you know there isn't anything special about her in terms of our objective?" he argued.

"What are you hinting, Parker?" Carmelita asked suspiciously. It was then that Parker decided that he would tell Carmelita the truth for Sara's own good.

"What I've been trying to tell you is that that girl is…" At that moment, all the lights went out, several women screamed, and guards everywhere were scrambling. When the light came back on, it became clear that Rajan and the girl (Sara) were no longer there.

"What the heck!" She looked around everywhere, seeing nothing until she looked at the skylight in the middle of the room. Jean Bison was swinging off the end of a rope, holding Rajan in both arms while the girl climbed up the rope.

"The jig's up partners!" he called up through the skylight. He yanked on the rope, quickly being pulled up by his team mates.

"Looks like you had a point, Parker," Carmelita told the young officer. She pulled her Shock Pistol out of whatever crevice it was kept in and started shooting at the criminals climbing out the roof.

On the roof, Jean Bison (carrying Rajan), Sara, Neyla, Arpeggio, and the Contessa were running away from the shock bolts that had started flying out the skylight.

"A fine job you did distracting them coppers." He glared at Neyla and the Contessa.

"We didn't get enough time to ready our distraction. It was going to be hilarious," Neyla grinned.

"Pray tell," Arpeggio said eagerly.

"Let's just say it involved hypnosis, ol' Ironsides, and the mysterious location of wherever she keeps that Shock Pistol of hers."

"Ew." Everyone, including Sara, laughed at that remark. Their one good moment was interrupted by the four police officers jumping through the skylight, shooting their Shock Pistols at them. The Klaww Gang split up, Jean Bison took Rajan to the left, Arpeggio and the Contessa went to the right, while Neyla and Sara took the middle. Wolfski followed the Contessa and Arpeggio, and Rodriguez went after Jean Bison, while Carmelita and Parker went after Neyla and Sara. Neyla and Sara split up, Carmelita following Neyla while Parker followed Sara. Parker shot warning shots around Sara's head, not wanting to actually hurt her. Unfortunately for Parker, Sara was no fool and knew that he didn't want to hurt her so she just kept on running. Neyla, however, was in a completely different situation. Carmelita didn't just want to stun and capture Neyla, she wanted to _kill_ her.

"You're going to pay for what you did to my daughter!" Carmelita yelled. She turned her Shock Pistol from the standard level 5 to a stunning 6.

"What, did that picture upset you?" she mocked while dodging the larger than usual bolt of electricity.

"By the time I'm done with you, you're going to be _begging_ to go to jail!" She increased the level to a 7, now it was getting dangerous.

"Not with that aim." She leapt over the absolutely huge bolt. Carmelita seemed to have gone off the deep end, too furious to speak. She jumped the gun and switched the power all the way up to a lethal level 10, expressly used for only intensely dangerous criminals. The barrel of the gun glowed bright electric blue as she pointed it at Neyla. Sara looked around from her vantage point on top of a chimney and saw Neyla and her mother illuminated in the bright blue glow.

"Mom! NO, DON'T!" Carmelita turned around, someone else was there. In a fit of pure intense stress, adrenaline rush, and panic; she shot the dense ball of pure energy at Sara. Parker just managed to tackle Sara as the ball struck both of them, knocking them both back several feet.

"Oh, well done Ironsides. You just managed to almost kill your own teammate and someone important to you," Neyla mocked.

"What the…Parker!" She realized what she had done and quickly put the Shock Pistol away, running towards her fallen teammate. Wolfski and Rodriguez soon joined her, explaining in an embarrassed way that they had lost their objectives. The three cops walked over to the stream which Parker and the unknown girl had been thrown into. Wolfski and Rodriguez quickly went to Parker and picked him up, carrying him to the side. Carmelita walked over into the stream to see who the mysterious girl was. She stopped suddenly, noticing how a stream of black dye was pouring down the stream from her hair. The girl didn't actually have black hair; she had hair of some other dark color. Carmelita closely inspected the girl's hair upon which she froze in shock; the girl had blue hair exactly like her own. She took a trembling hand and rolled the girl over, gasping in shock when she recognized her face.

"Sara? I-I-I shot my daughter; I shot my little baby!" She quickly turned around to Rodriguez and Wolfski. "We need an ambulance here!" Carmelita checked Sara's pulse, sighing in relief when she felt a faint beat. She sat by her daughter until the ambulance came and took her to a hospital in Calcutta.

_Author's Note: Genius Carmelita, pure genius (sarcasm). Anyway, stay tuned for the seventh chapter and a huge plot twist; Geek out. _


	7. The Plot Unfolds

**Chapter 7:**

**The Plot Unfolds**

Sara groaned softly, pressing one palm against her sore head. She felt nothing but pain in her body. A soft hand was stroking her forehead, sometimes flipping over a wet cloth. Sara opened her eyes, seeing the blurry form of her mother gazing down at her in concern. Her mother had changed out of her dress into her blue shirt and pants; her suede jacket was slung over a chair next to the bed. She leaned down and kissed Sara on the cheek, rubbing the other cheek with her hand.

"Sara, how are you feeling?" she asked softly.

"Everything hurts so much," Sara groaned. Her mother's eyes started watering.

"Oh Sara, I'm so sorry. I was going to shoot Neyla but you shouted something and that made me freak out and I…I shot you with a 10 power bolt. If Parker hadn't grabbed you and took some of the blow, you would have died." She sniffed once.

"Parker? Tim! Is he okay?" she asked urgently, sitting up despite her soreness. Her mother quickly pushed her back down.

"He woke up about an hour ago, he's feeling perfectly fine," she said in a soothing way, stroking some of Sara's hair out of her face.

"Well where are the others?" Carmelita's face darkened considerably.

"They got away. What were you doing with those people anyway, if they weren't holding you hostage then why didn't you come home?" she growled.

"Because I knew you'd put me under constant watch, most likely by Rodriguez," Sara sniffed.

"Sara…he's not as bad as you think," she said patronizingly.

"He's worse than _you_ think. I hate him, Mom!" Sara screamed. Carmelita gave Sara a shocked expression.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Carmelita asked softly.

"Because you would never listen," she huffed, arms folded.

"Yes I would," Carmelita soothed.

"No you wouldn't!" Sara shouted back, shocking her mother. "You've never listened to me, then I got into some sort of trouble because of it and you promise to start listening but you never do!" Sara's voice was becoming faster and more slurred together in her rage. Her mother leaned back slightly; staring down into Sara's enraged expression.

"Well I'm listening now, you can tell me anything." It was Sara's turn to look shocked; her mother hadn't burst out into an enraged fit. Sara smiled and pushed herself up to embrace her mother.

They were able to discuss many things, things they had never been able to discuss before. They still didn't really agree about Rodriguez but Sara's mother agreed to drop it. Sara even spoke a little about her time with the Klaww Gang, describing some things like exactly how much the Contessa creeped her out to the always humorous conversations between Jean Bison and Arpeggio. After discussing things for about an hour, a knock on the door came. The form came through the door, revealing itself to be Sara's father. He leaned down next to the bed to kiss and embrace Sara, a look of relief on his face.

"I thought we'd lost you." Sara hugged her father back.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to scare you and Mom," Sara said.

"Well you're safe now, and don't worry your friends managed to get away from the police sent after them. I know how important it is to know that the members of the gang you're in are safe."

"Thanks Dad," she smiled and hugged him. At that moment, the Sherriff opened the door, followed by Rodriguez. The Sherriff had a very grave look on his face while Rodriguez, though he pretended to be as grave as his superior, had a glint of glee in his eyes.

"What is it Sherriff?" Carmelita asked.

"So, it does seem to be true," he sighed.

"What?" she asked nervously.

"Your daughter was the mysterious fifth member of the Klaww Gang. A bit of a chip off her father's block, eh Sly?" he gave Sly a weak smile.

"I guess so, sir," Sly said with uncertainty.

"But what concerns me is your involvement," the Sherriff said.

"Sherriff, we didn't even know Sara was the fifth member until late last night. We thought, like everyone else, that she was a hostage," Carmelita argued.

"Then why is it that when you had the leader of the Klaww Gang cornered, you instead turned your gun on a fellow officer, nearly killing him?" Rodriguez snapped. Carmelita gave him a shocked look at this betrayal.

"Sara had yelled for me to stop and I freaked out. I shot at Sara but Parker tackled her and got hit as well," she said shakily.

"And how could the Klaww Gang break into one of the most protected houses in all of Paris, your house?" Rodriguez argued.

"Sara must have deactivated the alarms from a distance," Sly said, coming to his wife's defense.

"And just now, you reassured Sara her 'friends' were safe," Rodriguez snapped at Sly. The Sherriff sighed and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, but the evidence is overwhelmingly against your favor. Men, place the Cooper family under arrest." A form broke straight through the window and caught Sara's arms. Everyone looked in surprise to see Neyla standing on the headboard of Sara's bed.

"That's my cue. Let's go fellas!" The rope around her waist pulled both her and Sara out the window and up into Arpeggio's dirigible. Rodriguez leapt out the window after them, landing on the adjacent rooftop. He pulled out his Shock Pistol and started shooting at Neyla and Sara, missing them by inches. Neyla had just pushed Sara into Bison's arms when a shock bolt struck her in the back, making her fall out of the dirigible and into a heap of garbage below. Several officers went into the alley she had fallen into and came out a minute later with a struggling Neyla in their midst. The Sherriff stood next to Rodriguez and nodded approvingly of the catch.

"You have proven to be an extremely loyal and skilled officer, Captain." Rodriguez smiled at the news of his promotion.

"Thank you sir."

"It must have been especially difficult for you to reveal the guilt of Chief Cooper; you were very close to their family, especially the daughter."

"Yes sir."

"You will escort them to the rehabilitation center in Prague."

"As you wish sir."

_Author's Note: Rodriguez is a slick bastard isn't he? Review and you shall receive the next couple of chapters which includes Rodriguez's motivation and the fate of the Coopers and the Cooper Gang. Geek out._


	8. A New Alliance

_Author's Note: Two reviews, I haven't seen that many after one posting since __Ratchet and Clank Future: the Final Frontier__. For being such great sports you get three chapters today then the final one and the epilogue. Special shout outs to the wonderfully talented Slylady345 and the equally wonderful nashie17; you people rock. Please follow their example, Geek out. _

**Chapter 8:**

**A New Alliance**

In the hideout of the Cooper Gang, Bentley, Murray, Penelope, the Guru, and Dimitri were all sitting around waiting for Sly and Carmelita's return. They all sat around a table, playing Go Fish. Bentley turned to Dimitri.

"Got any twos?" he asked.

"Start fishing, bro," Dimitri said smugly.

"Can't you just say, 'Go Fish'?" Bentley sighed in exasperation.

"That isn't in my colorful vocabulary," he smirked. Suddenly, Penelope slammed her fist on the table out of frustration.

"This is stupid! Sly and Carmelita should be back by now." Bentley patted Penelope's hand reassuringly.

"Penny, calm down. This is Sly Cooper we're talking about; he can take care of himself."

"Like he did on Kaine Island?" she asked, eyebrows raised.

"He has Carmelita with him," he assured.

"I just hope that Rodriguez guy didn't do anything. I didn't trust the look of that guy," Murray added.

"But he likes Sara. He wouldn't do anything to hurt her or her family, he'd be too afraid she'd hate him," Bentley reasoned.

"I just hope he doesn't try anything like General Tsao did on Jing King." His fists tightened when he thought of the general trying to force his daughter into marriage.

("Ditto.") Everyone who had prominent ears' ears perked up at the sound of police sirens.

"That must be Sly and Carmelita," Murray assured Penelope.

"But why would they have their sirens on?" He looked out the window and saw several police getting out of their cruisers but none of them looked like Sly or Carmelita. Penelope looked out of the window from behind Bentley's head.

"Guys, I don't think that that's a police escort for Sly and Carmelita. I think that they're here to arrest us!" she said in a worried voice.

"Whoa, wait a minute. The coppers are supposed to be the friends of Cooper and his lady. Why are they trying to do us in?" Dimitri asked.

"I don't know, but we need to get out of here." The door burst open as Wolfski kicked it off its hinges.

"Freeze!" shouted the white lupine.

"Now, Igor, please don't turn us in, you trust us right?" Bentley reasoned. Unexpectedly, Wolfski put down his Shock Pistol.

"Of course I do. Now go get in the helicopter, let's get out of here." Wolfski's Constable looked in confusion as Wolfski led the Cooper Gang to his helicopter.

"Uh, Inspector?" the constable asked.

"I'm sorry but I just can't agree with the Sherriff's decision to outlaw the Cooper family. Rodriguez is the real person in charge of that decision and seeing as I'm Rodriguez's superior, nothing is wrong with what I'm doing." He led the Cooper gang into their van then took his helicopter to pick it up, taking it all the way over the ridge in the distance.

Wolfski took his helicopter and the Cooper Van all the way to a clearing in the French countryside. He set the van down right next to a small blimp, lifting off the ground.

"I'll see you guys in Prague when you're going to save the Coopers." He saluted the gang and went away to the east. The gang looked at the blimp, seeing the five forms right next to it. Sara shot forward from the Klaww Gang's ranks, wrapping her arms around Murray's thick form.

"Hey, where's Neyla?" he asked, scanning the Klaww Gang's ranks for the despised white tigress.

"She was captured while saving me from arrest." Murray and Bentley both looked shocked that Neyla would make a sacrifice like that.

"Wow, she sacrificed herself for you. She must have gained a heart since we last saw her."

"She was under the control of the Clockwerk eyes, I could tell. She always had a heart; it was Clockwerk that betrayed you," the Contessa said.

"I still don't trust her but I guess she does deserve help," Murray growled.

"We're going to go to Prague and save your parents, Sara. Just as soon as I put together a plan…"

"Are you kidding, for what they've supposedly done they could be killed! We have to get them out now!" she yelled.

"Sara, you need to take time to think about this," Bentley reasoned.

"There is no time; I'm going to get my parents right now." She picked up the cane in the corner of the room and tried to exit the room but Murray got in her way.

"Now Sara, please don't make me force you into staying." He placed his hands on her shoulders which didn't stop her from ducking under his legs and running straight out the doors. She took a small blimp attached to the larger dirigible and flew it east to Prague. Everyone in the area started yelling for her to come back, all was in vain however as Sara simply continued flying to the east.

"Quick, everyone in the blimp!" Arpeggio shouted. Everyone bustled into the dirigible, even Murray. He yelled at Arpeggio when they didn't go and take the van with them.

"We have no need of it now; we'll be back soon enough," the Contessa said.

"So wait, we're all in this working together?" Bentley asked.

"Seems so, the ranks of the Cooper Gang and the Klaww Gang working side by side." Dimitri smiled at all his ex-cohorts.

"Rajan, my brother-from-another-mother, how's it going?" he smiled at the regally attired tiger. Rajan groaned.

"First I'm kidnapped by my own team members now I have to put up with _you_ again? Just stay quiet until we get to Prague so I don't 'accidentally' knock your head off your shoulders." Dimitri gulped.


	9. The Final Blow

**Chapter 9:**

**The Final Blow**

Sara leapt off her little balloon onto the gate of the prison, rolling as she hit the ground. She took out some of the guards that got in her way swiftly with a blow of her father's cane. Upon reaching the main building of the prison, she quickly looked around for an alternate route inside; as her father always said: "Good thieves never use the front door." She clambered up a pipe to the window, smashing it open with the extremely useful cane. She had been completely undetected getting in, for now at least.

Rodriguez entered the cell where Sly, Carmelita, and Neyla were being held, a gloating grin on his face.

"Everything is going perfectly according to my plan," he sighed happily.

"Which is?" Sly asked. Rodriguez smirked at Sly.

"Well I might as well tell you, it's so much more entertaining when you can know what the plan is. My plan has been going on for two years, ever since I joined Interpol. I first made the plan long before that, ever since the one day I first saw your beautiful daughter, Sara." Sly snorted.

"So, all this trying to impress Sara?" he smirked. "Let me clue you in, she isn't impressed."

"This isn't about impressing her at all; this is just about getting what I want. Now of course the main body of the plan that I made didn't start going on until I earned your favor, Carmelita, as a reasonable suitor for your daughter. Then of course came the first obstacle, she had absolutely no interest in love at the time. You know that 'private business' I had to tend to? Well that just so happened to be a meeting with the Klaww Gang."

"What? You were working with the Klaww Gang?" Carmelita asked in outrage.

"Yes I know, ironic isn't it that you should get thrown in jail for the crime I committed. I told the Klaww Gang that Sara was going to be in that little village outside Madrid with her cousins. I then directed those two snatchers to try and catch her, knowing of course that the Klaww Gang would stop them. Everything came together and now you are under arrest for helping the Klaww Gang and though I may not have Sara, she's sure to come after you." He took a GPS and looked at the screen, smiling as he saw a red dot right in the prison. He went to the PA and called out to the guards: "Go to the hall outside cell block E and bring me Sara Cooper, alive." He turned back to the shocked expressions of Sly and Carmelita.

"How did you know that Sara was here?" Carmelita stammered.

"Did you ever notice that lovely necklace I gave her in Madrid? There's a tracking device in it which I can trace with this GPS." Sly leaned over to Carmelita.

"Told you he was a stalker."

Two ape mercenaries came through the door, each holding one of Sara's arms. She was kicking and screaming at them to let her go; once her foot came up and hit one in the face. They threw her on the ground, the one she had kicked wiping a trickle of blood at the side of his mouth. Rodriguez nodded to the guards, signaling them to leave the room which they did. Sara quickly ran to her parents, wrapping one arm around each. A chuckle from behind her made her turn back to Rodriguez, get up, and run at him with a fist pulled back. Rodriguez caught her arm and swung her around so that she was pinned against him.

"It's so nice that you could join us, Sara. I was starting to worry you wouldn't show up, I was starting to think you didn't care about your parents." Sara struggled in his arms.

"Go to hell you traitor," Sara growled.

"I'm the traitor? You were the one who joined the Klaww Gang, turning your back on the law _and_ your parents," he smirked.

"You framed my parents, why?" Sara growled.

"Because, I needed a way to get you all alone without your parents around." Sara shuddered as one of his fingers traced her stomach, reaching uncomfortably close to her chest area.

"Yet, we're right here." Sly smirked at Rodriguez, earning himself an 8 power hit from a Shock Pistol. Sara screamed and struggled even harder to get out of Rodriguez's grip to no avail.

"Now, Sara, Sara. You didn't like it when I did that to your father," he cooed mockingly. "There is a way you can make sure it never happens again and that they're both freed." Sara looked up at him in complete surprise.

"How?" He smirked and stroked her cheek, leaning his snout down so it was buried in her hair. Sara's breathing became faster, she was extremely nervous about what the answer to her question was.

"I will let your parents and Neyla free if…"

"If?" Sara asked.

"…if you marry me."

"What?" both mother and daughter said in outraged unison.

"She's 15!" she shouted.

"Didn't stop General Tsao when he tried it on Jing King," he muttered.

"She's too young to be married!" she continued, ignoring Sly. Rodriguez ignored Carmelita and spoke to Sara as though her mother hadn't uttered anything.

"Think about it, you're a smart girl so I know you'll make the right choice." Sara looked over to her parents.

"Don't do it Sara, we'll be fine, just get out of here, save yourself," she pleaded. Sara looked at Rodriguez and with a look of pure disgust, she nodded.

"Okay."

"What?" Sly asked in shock.

"I'll marry you if you release my parents." Rodriguez smirked and leaned down to kiss Sara, taking the young half breed completely by surprise. Both Sly and Carmelita's muscles tightened as fury lit up in their eyes. Rodriguez pulled his face off of Sara's, stroking the soft fur on her cheek.

"I could get used to that," he smirked.

"Now, my parents?" she asked.

"Quite right, guards, send for an executioner," he told the mercenaries.

"What?" she shouted in outrage.

"I did say I would let them go, I never said in what way," he smirked.

"You filthy, cheating…"

"Now, now; is that any way to treat your fiancé?" He held Sara close, stroking her face and kissing it softly.

"Please, leave my parents alone," she pleaded with him.

"Shh, quiet now. Take her to the helicopter." An ape mercenary took Sara by the arm and dragged her out of the room. Rodriguez smirked at the Coopers, both chained to the wall. "Well, say hello to your new son-in-law. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha," he laughed gloatingly as he walked out the door, ignoring the fact that Carmelita had started cursing terribly in Spanish.


	10. Prison Break

**Chapter 10:**

**Prison Break**

A light flashed out of the old projector then flickered out, earning a pounding and fit of cursing from the cripple turtle next to it. Bentley quickly rebooted the projector and cleared his throat to begin telling the combined Cooper and Klaww Gangs of his plan.

"Well, the plan I have concocted involves everyone in this room. There are three levels of assault on the prison; the first involves fighting all the mercenaries in the prison, the ones in charge of that will be the best fitted for fighting: Murray, Panda King, Dimitri, Jean Bison, and Rajan. The second level involves taking over the security tanks, which would involve the combined efforts of Penelope and Arpeggio. And finally, we need to hack the security system, that's up to me and the Contessa. Alright people, you have your assignments, let's roll."

_First Level_

Murray, Panda King, Dimitri, The Guru, Jean Bison, and Rajan made their way to the door of the cell block containing Sly, Carmelita, and Neyla. Jean Bison brandished his great woodsman's axe and smashed open the door with it. Alarms blared warning as mercenary apes poured out of the doors on either side. Murray swerved out of the way of a missile fired by a mercenary and swung a punch into the ape's face. Panda King fired a rocket at a group of mercenaries, blowing the apes sky high and then some. Dimitri used his ring-gun to blow away mercenary after mercenary though he did have to resort to his long tail every once in a while when the stupid thing jammed. The Guru snuck up behind the mercenaries and took over their minds, ramming them into their comrades. Jean Bison used his axe to smash aside multiple mercenaries in one sweep, or simply smash the head of one with the long haft of the axe. Rajan too used a stick to beat back mercenaries, using much more graceful sweeps than his cohort. Eventually, all mercenaries were cleared from the prison and the Cooper/Klaww Gang could move on with its plans.

"Alright guys, we got the mercenaries cleared out; time for phase two."

_Second Level_

Penelope's small form crawled towards the tanks, avoiding being seen by the fleeing mercenaries. She crawled through the window and let Arpeggio off her back.

"No worries, I'll have these things hotwired in a jiffy." The undersized parrot easily squeezed through the crevices in the thick chassis of the tank and indeed had the tank hijacked in next to no time. He then proceeded to do so with the others, adding sensors so they could be controlled by remote control. Even though Arpeggio was quick in his work, there were over a hundred tanks in the place so it took him almost half an hour to hijack them all and prepare them for Penelope's control. Penelope took out her controller and pushed both joysticks forward, commanding all tanks to move forward. She sat down on top of the tank in the back being driven by Arpeggio, commanding her army to create a perimeter around the prison so no mercenaries could come back.

"Okay guys, we got a perimeter set up around the prison; time for phase three."

_Third Level_

Bentley wheeled his chair towards the control panel on the inside of the door Jean Bison had smashed in. The Contessa was right behind him as she knew the codes of most of the computers in here. The cripple turtle cracked his fingers and started typing furiously at the keyboard of the biggest computer. One after another, the computer's defenses fell before the might of "The Wizard", the keyboards of those defeated smoking from the rapidity of his typing. The final computer was hacked and the security door to the upper levels of the cell block was opened, allowing the combined gang to run up and save their friends.

Carmelita had broken down crying once her blind fury had burned out into nothing. Sly tried speaking consoling words to her, but none were able to penetrate the shield of misery she had cast around herself. Neyla just sat on the end of the row, staring out the window in hope that some light could penetrate the darkness of the moment, maybe that would shut Carmelita up. Footsteps were heard on the other side of the barred door, slowly ascending the stairs to their prison. Carmelita stopped crying, she could not show weakness in this moment. She turned to Sly, husband and wife both mouthing final goodbyes and leaning forward for one last kiss as the form of the executioner came through the door. The swift swing of an axe was heard, quickly followed by the sound of metal breaking. All three opened the eyes they had closed and stared in wonder at the forms that had entered the room. Bentley rushed forward with the key and undid all the manacles that had been attached to their wrists, exposing the welts they had left. All three received the weapon they had been deprived of; Neyla's whip, Carmelita's Shock Pistol, and Sly's Cane.

"Where's Sara?" Bentley's question brought back the horrible realization of what had just happened.

"She just…accepted Rodriguez's…marriage proposal thinking it would save us but he…said he was going to have us killed…he lied to her to force her into marriage." The Panda King growled upon hearing this.

"Well, what are we standing around for? Let's go get them," Murray called.

"Um, excuse me, FYI we have no idea where they are," Neyla pointed out. Bentley tapped his temples in thought.

"Think. What one place could Rodriguez go where Interpol was miles away and both his and Sara's families could recognize their marriage?" Carmelita's eyes widened first.

"Madrid. Both my family and Rodriguez's family live in that area. Sara doesn't have any surviving family on Sly's side of the family so my family is the only family that could recognize the marriage."

"Yeah well, somehow I don't think we're invited," he stated.

"And since when does it matter to you, Sly Cooper, whether or not you're invited?" she asked, eyebrows raised.

"I never said it did. I'm only expressing my outrage that we aren't even invited to our own daughter's wedding." Sly smiled his Cooper Smile at Carmelita. Bentley snapped his fingers.

"Hey, back to our focus here," he snapped.

"Everyone to the blimp!" Arpeggio called.

"Wait a minute, you guys are coming too?" she asked of the Klaww Gang members.

"Course, Rodriguez stared us straight in the eyes while stabbing us in the back; only I can do that," she smiled. "We thought that getting Sara to join the Klaww Gang would be a right good slap to your face but it turned out just to be a plot to get the girl and get us all thrown in jail. Of course we're gonna get him back for what he did."

"'The Murray' approves!" Murray said.

"Come on, let's go get my daughter back and give Rodriguez a beating while we're at it," Sly called.

"That is something I can stand behind," the Panda King agreed.

"Smash time; let's get this cat fight started," Dimitri cackled, earning looks from everyone else.

"Don't say that ever again," Sly said.

"Sorry."

_Author's Note: Stay tuned for Chapter 11: Wedding Crashers, and in the meantime review, Geek out._


	11. Wedding Crashers

Author's Note: Well, here it is, the last chapter (epilogue doesn't count because it just tells what happens to the characters afterwards). Please review this story like Sookdeo did and you can get the last story sooner. Geek out.

**Chapter 11:**

**Wedding Crashers**

Arpeggio's blimp flew through the air over the Spanish countryside, towing the Cooper Van below it. Sly, Bentley, Murray, Carmelita, Neyla, and the Panda King were all situated in the van, ready to do their part. Dimitri's voice came over the radio.

"Okay peoples; let's crack this cracker-box," he grinned.

"Releasing tow wire." Murray slammed on the gas as the van fell from its holster, propelling the van forward as it hit the road. The van screeched past the traffic on the highway, barely making it into the exit into Madrid.

"Okay guys, approaching ballroom." Murray drove the van straight over the sidewalk into the back parking lot of the ballroom.

"How are we going to get to the front entrance?" Carmelita asked. Sly smirked at his wife.

"Carmelita, after all these years you should know one thing:" the van screeched around to head straight for a ramp in front of the stained glass back of the ballroom, "master thieves never use the front door."

Inside the ballroom, Rodriguez and Sara stood on the altar in front of the priest. Rodriguez was perfectly content right now, everything had gone to plan and soon enough Sara would be his. The side of the room occupied by Rodriguez's family was mostly empty as he had not been too eager to tell many of his relatives and Sara just didn't have that big of a family seeing as half of them were killed off before she was born. He stared gloatingly at his forced bride, her long hair pulled back into a braid. Sara was gasping between sobs which both families mistook for tears of joy though of course they didn't see the white cloth that had her hands tightly bound. The priest went into another phase of the marriage, finally getting close to the "I dos".

"…and do you, Roberto Juan Silva Rodriguez take Sara Maria Cooper to be your lawfully wedded…" The sound of an engine made the priest look behind him to two bright spots on the stained glass window. The two spots became smaller and smaller until a bright blue, flame patterned van with the Cooper insignia on it crashed straight through the window. The Cooper Van landed in the aisle behind all the guests and spun around, knocking out all the chairs around it. There were gasps and screams from the guests, Sara's grandmother and aunt had both fainted in shock. Sly and Carmelita were the first to exit the van, both pointing their weapons at Rodriguez.

"Now what kind of a wedding is this when the parents of the bride are not invited?" Sly growled.

"A non-legitimate wedding if you ask me, A.K.A a forced marriage," Carmelita growled as well. Mutters erupted from the side occupied by Sara's family.

"Now, look at this; you're ruining your daughter's wedding day," Rodriguez grinned nervously.

"It's only ruining it if she's happy with the marriage," Carmelita said threateningly.

"She was erupting in tears of joy just before you came through," he said nervously.

"Really, then how do you explain the need to keep her hands bound?" Sly asked smugly. Sara dropped the flowers she was carrying and raised her arms to show the binding on her wrists. The muttering from Carmelita's family had become angrier than ever. Diego, Juan, Carlos, and Fernando (the oldest of Sara's cousins) were all cracking their knuckles and growling at Rodriguez while Carmen, Maria (Sara's grandmother), and Marina were all giving Rodriguez scorching glares. Rodriguez's family just had looks of cold disapproval on their faces but were giving the Fox family warning looks.

"Now, this is supposed to be a day of joy," he chuckled nervously, backing away from the angered crowd. A rocket flew out of the van, straight for Rodriguez's face, making the groom duck quickly out of the way. The Panda King stuck his head out the top of the van, pointing an accusing finger at Rodriguez.

"You are no better than General Tsao, the man who tried to force my own daughter into wedding him," the Panda King yelled angrily. Sara's male cousins had gotten out of their seats and stood with clenched fists, ready to attack Rodriguez. Rodriguez turned to the flustered priest, giving him a glare that said to continue the ceremony.

"Oh, where was I? Yes, do you Roberto Juan Silva Rodriguez take Sara Maria Cooper to be your lawfully wedded wife?" he asked nervously.

"I do, get on with it," Rodriguez growled. Sara's parents started rushing forward to stop the ceremony but were stopped by some muscular members of Rodriguez's family.

"And do you Sara Maria Cooper take Roberto Juan Silva Rodriguez to be your lawfully wedded husband?" the priest continued as though nothing were going on. The two muscular family members held Sara's parents as Rodriguez pointed a gun at them.

"I-I-I do," she said in defeat.

"NO!" Carmelita screamed.

"If anyone here has any reason these two should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace." Murray leapt straight out of his van pointed a huge finger in the air and bellowed at the top of his voice.

"'THE MURRAY' OBJECTS!" Neyla leapt out of the van.

"As do I."The Panda King followed.

"And I." Then Bentley.

"Me too." And Finally Sly.

"Don't forget us." The forms of the remaining Klaww Gang and Cooper Gang members fell through the ceiling to land next to their comrades.

"We have some objections ourselves, eh." The entirety of the Fox family stood up and placed their objections, standing side by side with the two gangs of thieves. Rodriguez stared angrily at all those who rejected him.

"It does not matter what you think for now Sara is mine," he growled. He glared at the priest who quickly went back to the ceremony.

"You may now kiss the bride." Rodriguez held Sara tightly and pushed his face towards hers. Sara's eyes lit up in fury and swung her bound wrists into his snout. He grabbed Sara again, pressed her so hard against him that she was immobile and pressed his lips against hers.

"I now pronounce you man and wife." Rodriguez separated his lips from Sara's and stared into her eyes gloatingly.

"Mine." Sara struggled to get out of his grip, tears forming in her eyes again. He cooed softly and brought his muzzle in to kiss her again, repeating the movement over and over, muttering "mine" after each kiss. Sly ran at Rodriguez in rage, swung his cane around and hit him straight in the stomach. He quickly undid the cloth wrapped around Sara's wrists and brought her towards him and the rest of his gang.

"This marriage is not legitimate," Sly growled

"Oh believe me _Father_ it definitely is." He emphasized the title to show his place as Sly's new son-in-law. "Now if I could have my dear wife back…" His two brawny relatives ganged up on Sly, attempting to take Sara away from him. Carmelita awoke from her shocked state and shot both of Rodriguez's relatives with her Shock Pistol. She then pointed the weapon at Rodriguez.

"You're dead," Carmelita growled dangerously.

"Now, you don't want to make your daughter a widow do you?" he mocked.

"No need for her to mourn the man she doesn't love," she growled in response. Everyone looked up at the ceiling when helicopter blades were heard through the hole the Klaww Gang had made. An Interpol helicopter hovered above the hole, the sound of its blades soon being mixed with the sounds of police sirens. A thickly Russian accented and familiar voice came through a megaphone.

"Captain Rodriguez, you are under arrest. Put your hands in the air." Rodriguez took out a Shock Pistol, pointed his hands in the air and shot at the helicopter with a 10 power bolt. The helicopter fell through the ceiling, making all the guests scatter away from the wreckage of the aircraft. Rodriguez stepped towards Sly, beat the shocked raccoon back, and grabbed Sara by her long braid.

"I'm so sorry but I believe I must leave." He dragged Sara out of the ballroom and to the limo outside. Punching aside the driver, Rodriguez took control of the vehicle and drove away with Sara tightly bound in the back. "Now, off on our honeymoon. Where do you want to go Sara?" he smirked at his bound bride in the back.

"I don't want to go anywhere but you, you can go to hell," Sara growled. She tugged on the cords that bound her to the handle on the roof.

"Now, we'll correct that attitude of yours. You will learn to love me Sara, whether you want to or not." He tried to make a hard turn away from the ballroom but the limo made the complete opposite turn, making it so that the limo circled the ballroom.

"What the…" He looked at the back of the ballroom where two forms sat on the dumpster. One was a small turtle with white skin and a yellow shell while the other was a brown rabbit with green hair. They high fived each other and made faces at Rodriguez, the rabbit with the controller making the limo stop and lock both Rodriguez and Sara inside. Interpol police cruisers surrounded the limo, out of the nearest one stepped the Sherriff, a look of angered disapproval on his face.

"Oh my, what have you gotten yourself into sweetie?" she giggled at Rodriguez. He pulled out his Shock Pistol and pointed it at Sara.

"Well then, if I can't have you nobody can!" He was about to pull the trigger when another shock bolt destroyed the weapon in his hand. Sara turned around, expecting to see her mother but completely surprised when she saw Parker standing there with a shocked but determined expression.

"Rodriguez, you are under arrest," he said, nervously yet still firmly. A more experienced officer took over for Parker, allowing the young officer to untie Sara and receive an unexpected kiss from her. She had firmly planted her lips over his, pressing them to his passionately. He let himself sink in after getting over the initial shock, letting his arms weave their way around her slim waist. Sly and Carmelita turned the corner and stopped short after seeing their daughter firmly glued to Parker by the lips. Sly got over his shock first and raised his cane to knock Parker out cold but was stopped by his wife's hand firmly grasped around the shaft of the cane. She smiled at him and wrapped her arms around her husband, enjoying the moment that was their daughter's first voluntary kiss. Rodriguez shouted angrily at Parker from where another officer was attempting to shove him into a cruiser.

"Parker, she may love you and not me but that does not stop her from being _my_ wife!" he crowed at the younger officer, who held Sara against him protectively even after their kiss ended. The priest stepped forward and smiled, taking off the disguise to reveal himself to be the old Chief, Chief Barkley.

"You may not have noticed Rodriguez in your mixed rage and lust but I mixed up the two lines 'You may now kiss the bride' and 'I now pronounce you man and wife' making the wedding complete illegitimate. Sara Maria Cooper is not your wife; she is still an unmarried girl." A wide smile spread across Sara's face as Barkley said this and squeezed Parker tightly. Carmelita stared at the ex-chief for a minute, a look of disbelief on her face.

"How did you manage to do that?" she asked.

"I took up working under cover, disguised as a priest, assigned to stop forced marriages." Carmelita sank into Sly's arms, pressing her cheek into the raccoon's large chest. "What I want to know is who those two kids up there are?" he asked, pointing a thumb at the two children.

"Those would be our children," Bentley answered. He indicated Penelope, pushing his wheelchair forward. The two children ran to their parents, the turtle hopping into Bentley's lap while the rabbit clung to Penelope's legs. They both waved at Sara who waved back, smiling and giggling.

"I had an inkling that Rodriguez would try to make a run for it in the limo so I made it remote control and gave the twins the remote, I've trained them to use it over the years so they were completely able to control it," Penelope said with a smug grin.

"Genius, they should put you on the force."

"I am on the force," Penelope answered.

"That's good." He nodded approvingly and then walked off, nodding to several other police officers. The Sherriff walked towards Sly, Carmelita, and Sara who had rejoined her parents; he had an extremely guilty look on his face.

"I am so sorry for believing Rodriguez and not you. You will both receive a full pardon for any crime that you were wrongly accused of. Rodriguez doing all this to get you daughter, that's unheard of. I would have never thought I'd see the day when an officer would renounce the law for his own personal desires." Neyla gave him a mocking expression.

"Where were you when me and the Contessa were on the force?" she snorted.

"Yes, well that brings me to my other point. Despite your actions in the past, you have shown yourselves to be changed for the better and each and every one of you will receive a full pardon. We will hope that you will find a position within Interpol that is to your liking, thieves do make the best thief catchers after all," he told the assembled Cooper and Klaww Gang members.

"Police work. No I'm retiring that's for certain. I'm a hundred and ninety seven years old and I deserve a break." He pounded his staff on the cement for effect.

"Same here, except for the being a hundred and ninety seven part," Contessa said.

"I believe retiring would be a good thing to do now," Arpeggio agreed.

"I already have my fortune, I shall return to India with all my Klaww Gang friends being welcome of course," Rajan said. Dimitri whooped and slung an arm around Rajan's shoulder.

"Alright, you and me bro having the time of our lives on your sick pad," he grinned.

"You're not invited," Rajan growled

"I'm game for returning to the force, I've got plenty of years left on this body and I might as well do something with it," Neyla said.

"Okay then, you can have Parker's job. Parker, you can have Rodriguez's job," he told the younger officer, now constable.

"You mean I'm being promoted to Constable?" he asked in shock.

"You've shown yourself to be a skilled officer like Wolfski. You two should work well together." The Siberian Wolf clapped Parker on the back.

"But first we take vacation. I will show you Siberia, where I grew up, the sights the sounds, the smell of fresh bread in the oven, is heaven." Parker grinned nervously.

"Thank you Inspector but I want to make sure that Rodriguez get's put in jail so he can never touch Sara again." Sara blushed and rushed forward to hug Parker.

"Thanks." She kissed him quickly, earning another look of shock from both Parker and her father. Parker looked at Sara's parents nervously as Sara pressed her sweet smelling blue hair into his chin. Carmelita had a look of pure joy on her face, her hands clasped in front of her smiling lips while Sly simply had a grimace on his face. His eyes locked with Parker's and he shrugged, giving an approving nod. Parker smiled down at Sara, stroking her hair out of her face and kissing her lightly.

"Sara, would you…um…go out with me? I mean I understand if you don't want to, I mean…" Sara put a finger to his lips.

"Of course I will." She reached up to kiss him. The girl turtle started complaining.

"Can we go now, this is getting too mushy."

"I think it'd be a good idea to clear out," Penelope said.

"Yeah, I don't know about you guys but I'm tired," Sly yawned.

"And I want to go home," Sara said. She walked towards her mother and sank into her embrace. Carmelita led Sara away from the crowd to the van, followed by Sly who only stopped to give Parker an "I'm watching you" look. He then followed his wife and daughter, walking towards the car so he could enjoy his time reunited with his daughter.

_Author's Note: Yeah, it's done! Now if you guys are wondering about the argument about whether or not the marriage counts, well so am I. I knew I couldn't get it on the clause of the marriage certificate being signed in "the bride's own hand" (damn you Lemony Snicket) so I came up with something else, live with it. Geek out._


	12. Epilogue

**Epilogue:**

_Cooper Family_

The Cooper family is as happy as ever. Sara now goes out with her new boyfriend Timothy Parker but we all knew that from the moment he showed up so let's talk about some of the other characters.

_Officer Neyla_

Neyla is now an officer working for Interpol. She is quite close to being promoted back to her old position of Constable. Neyla has also found love with a young tiger named Brooks; they are scheduled to be married.

_Contessa_

Now retired and living in Rajan's "ancestral palace" she has published many studies of her work in the previous years and earned herself the Nobel Prize for work in Psychiatrics.

_Jean Bison_

Also retired and living with Rajan, he recently published a book about his adventures in the Canadian wilderness both before and after his freezing. It soon became a New York Times best seller and stayed at the top of the list for two years. He also published the latest book in the "For Dummies" series: "How to be a Lumberjack for Dummies".

_Arpeggio_

Retired as well, he published a psycho thriller about his recreation of Clockwerk and his betrayal at the hands of Neyla. Needless to say, no one else in the Klaww Gang ever spoke to him or Neyla again.

_Rajan_

He lives in his "ancestral palace" with several other Klaww Gang members. Really, nothing has changed with this guy, he's rich and he's still a numbskull.

_Panda King_

Living with his daughter Jing King and his granddaughter Xin King, he now owns the best fireworks company in France or in the opinion of some the world.

_Bentley and Penelope_

They live contentedly home-schooling their twins, Eric and Erica. Sometimes, Sara will babysit the twins, she quite enjoys being with the two little geniuses.

_Murray_

Murray recently discovered, much to his surprise, that the daughter of his cousin, whom he knew nothing about, is living at Happy Camper's Orphanage. Needless to say, he quickly took in the girl called Mackenzie and taught her in the ways of "The Murray". She became fast friends with Sara, soon becoming inseparable with the hybrid girl.

_Dimitri_

He went back to live with his niece Diane. She ran away from her parents so she could live with her "uber cool Uncle D."

_The Guru_

The Guru went back to the outback and got himself a new student, a young female koala who simply calls herself The Apprentice.

_Author's Note: Stay tuned for the final part of the Sara Cooper Trilogy: The New Cooper Gang. If you want it you'll review, OR ELSE!_


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